On the Job

An Adjustable Electrical Box

A couple of years ago, I ran across an unusual plastic
electrical box at the local home center. It's called the
Adjust-A-Box and is made by Carlon (216/464-3400,
www.carlon.com). What first attracted me
was the product's nailing plate, which lies over the exposed
edge of the stud so you can fasten it head-on. But when I
pulled the Adjust-A-Box out of the bin I noticed something even
more unusual — a Phillips-head screw inside that allows
you to adjust how far the box hangs out of the wall, even after
it's installed.

The remodeling company I work for specializes in natural stone
counters and backsplashes. In the past, it was always a big
problem when clients changed their minds about the splash
material. But with these boxes, we can run the small appliance
circuits and get the rough electrical inspection before we know
exactly what the backsplash will be.

If the clients decide they want 3/8-inch tumbled marble tiles,
we can turn the adjustment screw and move the box out to that
thickness. If they reconsider and switch to 3/4-inch granite,
we can crank it out some more. And if all of a sudden they get
budget-conscious and return to a 4-inch splash over drywall, we
just crank the box back in flush with the drywall.

The box adjusts from flush to more than 1 1/2 inches out from
the stud. Since the adjustment screw is inside the box,
adjustments can be made after finish work. This is especially
handy for outlets inside of cabinets, because we often don't
know how far off the wall the back of the cabinet will
be.

Also, when a wall is being tiled, we'll crank the box farther
out than it needs to be so that the tile setter can easily work
right to the box: He can't hang his tiles into the box, where
they have to be cut, and there's less chance he'll stop short
and force us to use an oversized face plate. Once the tile is
done, we crank the box back in.

At around $2 for a single and $4 for a double, Adjust-A-Boxes
are much pricier than regular boxes, so we use them only where
we are likely to need them. I haven't seen a triple- or
four-gang version yet, but I'm hoping I will soon.

Rick McCamyis a project superintendent for Straight
Line Imports in Martinez, Calif.

Pan Flashing for Stone
Sills

by David Frane
While visiting a local West Coast job site, I came across
the window-sill waterproofing detail shown here. The contractor
was building a wood-frame house that would be finished with
traditional three-coat stucco. All the windows in the house
would have exterior stone sills — each a potential leak
spot. So the GC had his sheet-metal sub make soldered copper
sill pans for the window openings. As an added precaution, he
lined the bottoms of the rough openings with Vycor
peel-and-stick membrane before fastening the pans to the
building with copper nails.

Stone is normally set on a bed of mortar. However, mortar won't
adhere to copper, so the builder first tacked soldered diamond
lath onto the pan to give the mortar something to key into
[1]. He then ran a temporary form across the
front [2] and floated a level layer of mortar
over the bottom of the pan.

When it's time to install the sills, the mason will put his
setting bed on the mortar [3]. The crew will
complete the waterproofing by lapping additional strips of
membrane onto the flanges of the pan from above. Building paper
and stucco lath will cover the entire wall and tuck under the
membrane that sticks out from under the sill
[4].

Controlling the Daily
Dust

by Bill Millard
I run a small remodeling company in Garrett Park, Md. We
take on small jobs — anything from repair work to
painting to renovating a kitchen. Almost all of our jobs have
one thing in common: Our customers live in the house while we
work on it. So, along with having good people skills, my crew
and I take dust control very seriously. And although the steps
we take aren't terribly costly or complicated, the extra effort
doesn't go unnoticed. Every month we turn down about $40,000 of
word-of-mouth work; we're currently booked well into
2006.

Our first move on any new job is to drape everything,
especially the upholstered furniture, with 1-mil plastic
sheeting. We also cover beds, tables, clothes hanging in
closets, and just about anything else that doesn't move under
its own power.

Next, we surround the work area with a floor-to-ceiling plastic
curtain. This is made easy with the use of telescoping tension
poles; we get ours from ZipWall (800/789-6633,
www.zipwall.com). The curtains go up fast
and come down easily at the end of the day, even if we're
returning the next day. The less clients notice our presence,
the better the job goes.

The curtain wall alone won't keep the dust contained; we also
use a constantly running dust extractor to depressurize the
enclosure. The unit itself sits outside because it's noisy. We
run 4-inch dust-collector hose through an open window and seal
around it with insulation or rags to prevent drafts. Whenever
we're doing a dust-making task, like cutting drywall or
concrete, a worker guides the hose as close to the cutting
operation as possible to capture the worst of the dust and
debris [1].

Of course, you can't just blow the stuff all over the yard. We
run the hose through a dust-separating lid mounted on a
35-gallon trash can. This pulls the bigger chunks and heavier
particles out of the airstream (and protects the extractor's
impellers from damage). The fine dust still blows through, so
we usually aim it into a handy bush [2]. If
this isn't possible or acceptable, we use a capture bag on the
blower and put up with the slight loss of suction that comes
with it [3].

For jobs that don't require room containment, we use ordinary
box fans and tape an inexpensive furnace filter over the draw
side of the fan [4]. This simple rig, set up
close to the work, captures a world of dust, as is obvious at
the end of the job when we toss the filter.

As a final touch, we go through the whole house with a feather
duster. One person dusts furniture, artwork, lamps, window
sills — absolutely everything, including the motorcycle
on display in one customer's living room — while another
follows with the 4-inch hose, sending the unsettled dust
outdoors through the extractor [5].

This simple courtesy has won us an endless list of repeat
customers.

Bill Millardruns a home repair and renovation service
in Garrett Park, Md.